Delancey Street visit

What is Delancey Street?

The Delancey Street Foundation is a residential self-help organization for ex-convicts, addicts, and anyone else who needs to turn their life around. There are 5 Delancey Street locations throughout the United States, and they house thousands of residents of all ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds. Residents at Delancey Street locations obtain a GED, as well as learn vocational and industrial skills that can help them in the job market. Delancey Street's employees consist entirely of Delancey Street graduates, allowing residents to personally connect with their administrators and teachers.

Our Goals

MAP visited the Delancey Street Foundation as part of our investigation of the Criminal Justice System in the United States. One of the biggest issues with the Corrections System in the United States is the extremely high recidivism rate of former prisoners. Our goals for the trip were:

To learn about how Delancey Street works to prevent its residents from committing crimes in the future

To understand a little about the lives of Delancey Street residents before they entered the program

To learn what skills Delancey Street focuses on developing in its residents

Learning more about what Delancey Street does will help inform MAP's approach to advocate for legislation to improve the Criminal Justice System in the United States. Additionally, hearing personal stories from ex-cons will hopefully be inspirational and provide even more motivation to help cause change to better the lives of hundreds of thousands of prisoners across the United States.